Clara at 28 wks (6 1/2 mos)

Clara is becoming more and more chatty and interactive. We all (especially her big sisters) are enjoying her lots lately!

Bundle of Joy!

Yep, she's our little bundle! And she's 6 months old!!

Ellie's prayer

Dear God,
Please keep my daddy safe on his scooter tonight. Please don't let him die. And when it's time for him to go to heaven, then I think that's a good idea but please don't let him die tonight!

Amen.

Moved!

Yes, we've moved! We just went up the stairs and across the hall but we have moved, nevertheless. We are now on the fourth floor in a four bedroom apartment. New perks include:
Laundry room
Lots of pantry cupboards
A real fourth bedroom with closets
A beautiful view with more breeze when windows are open

It's been a bit more work than I anticipated but partly due to the fact that we are painting this place by ourselves!! :) Here are a few photos of our new place (1. Girls' bedroom 2.master bedroom 3. New kitchen table used as breakfast table and extra counter space 4. Shelf thing that Joe created):

17 weeks!

Bundle of Joy

Little Clara is 15 weeks old!! She is smiley, talkative and observant. We just love her!

Clara at 14 weeks!

Here she is at 14 weeks! Time is flying by!

A foreigner in Taiwan....with a newborn!

A few thoughts about having a baby in taiwan (in bullet point form as this fogged brain can not think in paragraphs).  Oh and these are just thoughts, not judgements or criticisms lest I be judged.  I have found my baby-birthing experience very pleasant and have found the community of locals SO kind and receiving of us as foreigners (despite our inability to speak Chinese well):

~ Admission to the hospital the night before a scheduled c-section is actually a good idea to me, except when your roommate has already had her baby and her soothing techniques are far from soothing.
~ The VIP room that you pay over $100 USD to stay in is WELL WORTH the cost, especially when your roommate's soothing techniques include making loud barking noises with a "huh" sound.
~ Taiwan National Health Care is wonderful because you don't pay a penny all year...but then you must bring your own baby thermometer and other such items or else you will be charged.  I'm not accustomed to national health care.
~An operating room seems to flow like those in the US (I am biased, thinking US standards are best). Really, they did an EXCELLENT job!
~Warming lights are the hospital's best friend...and mine!
~ After 30 minutes of skin to skin with your baby right after she is born, the four hours they say they will take your baby for observation seems like an eternity even though in reality it was only 3-which is still a REALLY LONG TIME!  I truly believe it was for this reason that I struggled with some attachment to my baby this time around that I didn't experience with my other two, spending the nights with her on my chest (and she slept 5 hours in a row as a result!).
~ Not knowing enough Chinese can be EXTREMELY frustrating, especially at 5am when they wake you to find out what has happened through the night!  I can't even speak English in that situation let alone Chinese!
~ The hands off approach of the nurses is quite nice, and yet they did a meticulous job of taking care of baby.  They have their priorities straight! :)
~Taking a baby out in public before they are one month old is almost not worth it because of all of the attention you will receive...not just for being a foreigner (we're used to that) but because Taiwanese have what's called "zuo yue zi" where the mother and baby stay indoors for one month.  For this reason, they are not used to seeing a baby younger than one month and not used to seeing a mother who has just had a baby for that matter, causing them to make comments about how BIG my belly is and ask questions like, "When is THAT baby due" (pointing to my stomach).  UGH!
~ And also due to the "Zuo Yue Zi" post-partum mothers are not allowed to have ice or cold drinks...thank goodness they excuse me because I am a "wai guo ren" (foreigner).
~ Although it is still hitting mid-80's, I must adorn Clara is long-sleeves, pants AND a blanket in order to avoid comments about how cold my baby is.  Just the other day I had forgotten to do so and was forced to cover Clara in her burp cloth just so that a Taiwanese women would stop pestering me.  They really do care about my baby!
~ Clara has had her picture taken by so many locals (and us) I can not keep track anymore and she's only 4 weeks old!

Speaking of pictures...  Here is Clara at 2 weeks (my mom and I did a photo shoot with her):

 Yes, those are cloth diapers....did I mention we are using Bum Genius cloth diapers with Clara?  It was a gift from grandma Lola! :)  Oh and we LOVE them!!  Easy to use and should last her entire diapering life! :)

And Clara at 3 weeks (she was a zebra for halloween):

One week old

Here is our Clara Joy at one week old!  

Baby Clara continued

Just updating you all with a few pictures for all of our family and friends living half a world away celebrating with us the birth of our third baby girl!

Heading into the hospital the day before my c-section

Clara Joy Torgerson was born on 10/10 here in Taiwan (which is Taiwan's birthday) in the year of the dragon which is a REALLY big deal!  Everyone kept reminding us of how amazing and lucky we are to have a child born on this day!

In fact, it was such a cool thing the China Post decided to stop by and interview the American family who had a baby in Taiwan on 10/10 in the year of the dragon!  They even took a picture (probably not the most flattering picture of me as it was 6 hours after my c-section).  

 Clara weighed 7lbs 2 oz and was 19.5 inches tall (these are conversions from the actual measurements they took here in grams and centimeters respectively).  Clara was by far the most squawky at birth, but I think Ellie especially and even Siri were a little more abnormally quiet.  

 Proud sisters

Proud grandparents 

And a proud dad!

And against the rules here at this Taiwan hospital Clara is using a binky

That baby girl is looking at ME!

We call this hospital attire her ninja outfit

Our new family of FIVE!!

Clara is very cute and cuddly and we are already love her lots!

Clara Joy

Made in Taiwan!

A convo with Siri

Siri: I want to watch gymnastics!
Kim: Yes, I do too, Siri but it's not on right now.
Siri: But I DO want to watch gymnastics!
Kim: Yes, I DO too, but it's not on.
Siri: NO! You don't DO!  I DO!....{thinking}....you're a boy!

Wow, the worst insult that almost three year old could think of....you're a boy! Yikes!

Rollerblading Class! (Zhi Pai Lun)

Ever since the start of school LAST year, Ellie has been asking, begging to join the after school rollerblading class that her school provides one day a week.  We reluctantly said, "No" in attempt to figure out if her excitement was a fad, or true interest.  She had, after all received ice skates the summer before leaving Taiwan, so we knew she was excited about things of that nature, but she also grew tired of ice skating within minutes of hitting the ice, claiming it's arduousness.

So after a full year of persistence and an agreement with Lola and Baca, we decided her birthday present from Baca and Lola would be new rollerblades and we would pay for her to attend the class weekly.  Needless to say, she was ecstatic!  We waited until this week to really talk about it with her as we knew she would hardly be able to deal with her own excitement.  Well, this has been a long week for her, waiting until her first class on Friday when she would finally see her rollerblades for the first time (we ordered them through the school) and THEN put them on and try them!  

So as you can imagine, Friday came and at 6am Ellie came bursting into our room fully dressed and ready for school shouting, "It's Friday!!"  Haha!  Good morning!  And after waiting an entire school day she finally had her first rollerblading class which was a complete success!! She enjoyed it so thoroughly, in fact that she went home and put on her helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and wrist guards immediately (and would also have put her rollerblades on if I would have allowed her)!  And so, here are the pics to prove her success.

The class was 1 1/2 hrs long and they spent the first 30 minutes applying equipment, sans rollerblades.

Little mei mei waiting patiently to watch Ellie in action.

 Then, they began practicing the art of falling and getting back up again safely.  Really a good idea!

And FINALLY, they put on their skates!

The remainder of time on skates was also spent practicing falling and getting back up again!  Haha! it was really brilliant because the kids learned how to do it successfully and they weren't scared to fall as they had spent most of the time doing it on purpose! 

Can you guess what we will spend our Saturday doing?

Typhoon....here?

Well according to the radar, we are currently IN the typhoon but according to our backyard, we're just experiencing a maybe-slightly-more-windy-than-normal day!  There's actually some sun attempting to peek through the clouds, though there are lots of clouds!  So here's the latest satellite picture:

We are on the southern half of Taiwan, so our city is definitely in that orangey area!  And for the record, we DID experience some rain and wind last night, but nothing that left any lasting impressions!

And here are the views from our apartment.  To the north:

 And to the south:

If things escalate I will let you know, but it seems for now we are in the clear!

Typhoon coming!

We've been anticipating a Typhoon since early this week and I think it's finally almost here.  I just heard on the news more than 3,000 people on the east coast have evacuated, but thankfully we seem to be safe from evacuation here on the west side of the mountains.  With that said, the typhoon will still hit us and it looks like as hard as a category 3 out of 5!  We will see if the storm weakens as it passes over the mountains, but regardless, we will be getting lots of wind and lots of rain!  Two years ago around this time a category 3 hit taiwan, which caused lots of water to enter into the apartment building we live in.  So it looks like we may spend Joe's typhoon day tomorrow mopping up water, attempting to keep as dry as possible!

What complicates this already complicated storm is the fact that there is another one right behind it heading north which apparently will cause "our" typhoon (typhoon Tembin) to actually make a "u-turn" after passing over Taiwan and head BACK towards us, possibly only as a tropical depression. SO, it looks like this will be a lot of rain for possibly a long time!  Please pray for those who have evacuated (my understanding is that it is the landslides in the mountains that are so deadly)!  Here's a look at the radar as of about 1/2 hr ago: